Description of the project: This luxury resort project encompasses 780,000 sf with a construction cost of $73 million. HEA was hired to provide MEP commissioning services for their 390 luxury villas, 10,000 sf lagoon-style pool, beach bar, restaurants, retail and fitness spaces located on 16 acres of Maui’s Kā‘anapali Beach.

What services we are providing: HEA is providing MEP commissioning services, including: co-generation system, air handling units, VAVs, smoke control, variable and fixed speed exhaust fans, condenser water pumps, water source heat pumps, booster pumps, source and rejection well equipment, backup hot water boilers, heating water pumps, industrial water pumps, electrical main and distribution gear, emergency generator, electrical sub-station, domestic water booster pumps and piping, pool and spa equipment, fire protection, fire alarm, lighting control system and building management systems.

By: Robert Golda, Building Enclosure Associate

As building codes and energy codes continue to advance, especially as they are beginning to align with the latest versions of ASHRAE 90.1, the requirements for higher performing exterior envelopes is becoming the norm on many buildings across the country. 

With more stringent U-values, and much lower Solar Heat Gain Coefficients (SHGC) for fenestration systems, the cladding industry is quickly reacting by providing more high performance systems for the typical building stock. In addition, strong research into the effectiveness of air barriers, and the demonstrated cost savings when they are properly designed and installed, continues to highlight the importance of the building envelope and its roll in energy performance.

By: Christopher Duranceau, CCP, Project Engineer

With the summer temperatures gearing upwards, it is important for facility operators to be proactive with their building’s HVAC cooling systems. Most large HVAC systems rely on mechanical cooling. This could be a chilled water system or perhaps a closed loop direct expansion (DX) system. Each system presents its own unique set of maintenance requirements before being able to fully operate during the cooling season.

This article will quickly summarize the needs of a chilled water system and DX system.

By: Thomas Conn, Field Engineer, NYC Office

Introduction
Variable Refrigerant Flow, commonly referred to as VRF, is a method of heating and cooling spaces that is quickly gaining acceptance and popularity in the United States. Although VRF, which uses refrigerant in either a subcooled liquid or superheated vapor state to heat and cool spaces, was invented in Japan in 1982, it was only introduced to the United States in the 2000s. This “new” technology spread quickly across several large markets and is now a viable option for heating and cooling in almost any application.

What is VRF?
The concept of VRF is a rather simple, and literal, expansion of the tried and true refrigeration cycle. It should be explained by comparing it to a traditional chiller system first: instead of the evaporator being a heat exchanger where the refrigerant cools down water to be pumped through terminal units to cool a space, the refrigerant flows through coils inside an “Indoor Unit” which blows air taken from the conditioned space over the coils (which are acting as the evaporator), cooling the air and heating the refrigerant. The refrigerant travels back up to the “Outdoor Unit” to be pressurized by the compressor and reject heat to the atmosphere in the outdoor unit’s coils (this takes the place of a condenser in a traditional system)...

Employee of the Month: Ryan Younis, Field Engineer.

Aside from being an all-around amazing engineer, Ryan identified over 30 deficiencies that could have created major issues with system operation if not brought to anyone’s attention. Here's a quick Q/A with him:
• If you could vacation anywhere on the planet, where would you go? I have always wanted to go explore the Philippines.
• What is something about you that would surprise people? I just adopted a puppy – a dachshund beagle mix named Ella!
• Describe your perfect Saturday? Boozy brunch and a day in the Prospect Park with the dog.
• What is something you would like to learn to do? I love home improvement, so I would love to learn more about do-it-yourself home improvement.  
• What do you like best about working at HEA? I like being involved in the energy audits and reducing the energy consumption of major NYC buildings.